Lonesome Road
by devoutchristhayer
Summary: Under an ancient flag at the end of the world, two Couriers will duel, each carrying a message for the other.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is a retelling of the DLC, Lonesome Road, through the eyes of Ulysses, providing his interactions with Courier Six on his way into the Divide, as well as going into the backstory that made Ulysses the man he is today.**

**All of it is based off canon.**

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There was a message.

A simple transmission with the coordinates to the canyon wreckage that connected the Mojave Wasteland to the ravaged storms of the Divide. In addition to these instructions, a small address had been included, stating: "Courier Six – Ulysses"

This was the words that he had chosen to transmit to the other courier. From one courier to another, he would send the man on a mission to make his way through the land he created.

Since then, he had been waiting. From the perch leading to his temple at the end of the lonesome road, he could gaze out upon the twisted steel and nuclear hazards that stretched unto what seemed like the end of the Earth. Below him, he gazed at Marked Men and other enemies, unaware of his presence.

_As his eyes opened slowly, the light penetrated deep inside his skull,_ he remembered. _There was a flash of light, and then an unbearable heat that rose from within the Earth. It had been launch missiles, triggered by the Courier that had been sent by the Bear, the mighty NCR._

_When it had happened, molten fire and earthquakes erupted from the land as if it was crying in agony from the abuse of the man. The heavens even retaliated, punishing mankind for its impudent fighting. Even the innocents. At first gaze, his neighbors were not present. The people with whom he would build his nation – his home – were gone._

Legion and NCR.

Bear and Bull.

What were these anyway?

Signs of power. Was this foolishness supposed to be strength? Men bickering over pointless, trivial things such as Hoover Dam and land full of sin.

_As he moved forward, to sit up, his abdomen roared in fire and he clutched his stomach like it was a perch of sanctuary, and he was about to fall. His eyes journeyed down his chest, and he saw that blood was seeping through his fingers. As he swallowed his pain and felt the wound, he could indentify things such as shrapnel and metal._

_He winced, determined not to scream in pain. He needed to get prepared. Be ready to help those that survived whatever fresh hell the war had brought here. Though he held respect for Caesar – for his Legion – he was disturbed that his home was being perverted by the dictator's attempts to cut off NCR supply lines._

Ulysses chuckled to himself. The Divide had been the second known route into the Mojave from the west. The expanding NCR had found it their rightful duty to annex the new-found area. Make it one in the same with their senate. By the time he was done with Courier Six there would be no supply to the Mojave. Much like his home, the Courier's would be destroyed.

_He quickly ripped some loose cloth from his pant leg, and began to wrap it around his lower chest, grinding his teeth the entire time to work through the pain. He had known pain such as this. War had been fought in the Twisted Hairs. Men had been killed as he walked for Caesar. This was senseless. Without purpose._

_Once finished, the courier stood. Blood rushed to his skull and the world around him blurred with a spiraling light that seemed to invade his eyes from every corner. It couldn't be the nuclear blast, he told himself, and it must be me. He knew he was weak. Perhaps dying, though he refused to leave the settlers here in this hell._

"_Hello!" he shouted into the wreckage. Pathways were carved out in the destruction. Large craters in the heaps of metal that should have been sprawled about randomly. As his walk to find survivors continued, he noticed large warheads that sat on the ground, as if they were called to the surface, but did not heed the order to detonate. As he thought, he realized that some had been detonated by people: survivors. Someone, maybe even multiple people, had already awoken and were trying to escape._

_How had they missed him?_

Ulysses looked down upon them. The ghoulish, horrific creations of a man who knew not what he had done. To the left was an undetonated warhead, poking through a pile of steel frame that would've held a tower together. The courier smiled, and grabbed his rifle.

_Ulysses' teeth grinded in his mouth, almost to the point where he was certain they would break. He could feel that winds whipping into him, carrying sand and small bits of debris, effectively ripping away at the injury. Tearing the flesh from his bones._

_He checked his hands, making sure they looked normal. Before such an event, he would've sworn one who was close to such radioactive power would've certainly turned into a ghoul, but as far as he could tell he was still human. Or about as human as one could be after such an event._

Aiming through the scope, he lined up the warhead between the intersecting red lines. The antimaterial rifle had not been easy to come across. He could thank his journey to reawaken America for that one. When Courier Six came, he could tell him that it was his own fault his foe had such weaponry.

Ulysses gently squeezed the trigger.

_An explosion jumped into the air, behind some wreckage that was around a corner of trash. Eager for interaction, Ulysses stumbled around the corner. Twenty or so yards away were two humanoid figures. At first glance, the dazed courier thought that they were ghouls, but as they turned to face him he saw what they had become. The skin had been ripped from their irradiated skin, forming a new body of mutilated tissue and blood. A shell of a man gone mad._

_As he examined their attire, he noticed that they weren't even settlers of the Divide, as he had hoped. They weren't even men of an army. Both men bore different attire. One of the Bull. One of the Bear. To these new, insane creatures, the petty war of yesterday did not matter._

_ The one, apparently out of ammunition, presumably having used the rest of it on the warhead, charged towards him. Despite his condition, Ulysses easily side-stepped the man, and wrapped his hand around the foe's face. He bent his fingers, and dug them into the man's eye sockets, effectively blinding him and causing severe pain. Screams rang throughout the valley, and the courier did not stop until he felt the eyeball from the socket._

_He relinquished his grip, and the enemy collapsed onto the ground. On his knees._

_The other was quickly on Ulysses, taking advantage of his weakness. The marked hands of his foe attempted to rip past the cloth protecting his wound, to break into his flesh. The courier lashed like a serpent, attempting to throw the man off him. As he felt the rush of the winds come into his wound unprotected, due to the exposure that man had caused, he stumbled backwards._

_That instance all of it stopped. As he turned around, he noticed that his backwards fall had caused the foe to fall as well, right over a piece of rebar. It protruded through his torso, killing him slowly. As the man tried to lift himself off it, a breath of pain escaped his lips and he ceased to be._

_Ulysses was taken aback. In the distance, he heard the shouts of these people. These…_

Marked Men flew everywhere. The blast sent the violent ghouls flying away from the Temple. Though the blast killed many, the courier was not yet ready for their invasion. He moved the bolt back, and began taking aim on the survivors, even the ones struggling to keep themselves alive on the ground.

Bullets tore through the air, ready to take out the innocents at a moment's notice. He took no notice of their armor. Whether or not they bore the sign of the Bull – a sign that he once bore – was of no concern to Ulysses, who sought to put his plan into motion.

_He stumbled through the wreckage; his wound gyrated under the constant pressure of his moving body and the tough winds that whipped through the air. Fire would blow up through the newly broken Earth, and the skies would shout to man with anger. But the courier would not be taken so easily by the child. The child who brought the package that destroyed his home._

Soon, Ulysses told himself, Courier Six will be here.

_Shawnson Gallows._

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**Just in case anything is unclear. The italics is the parts where Ulysses is remembering his past, in this case, the immediate aftermath of the destruction of the Divide. Shawnson Gallows is the name of Courier Six, the player character in Fallout: New Vegas.**

**If you enjoyed the story, feel free to drop a review. Constructive criticism encouraged.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, this is continuing the story of Lonesome Road through Ulysses' eyes, as well as telling the story of how he became the enemy you meet in-game.**

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As Ulysses walked back into his temple, he examined the missiles that awaited the Courier. Often times, throughout the course of his struggle to change history, he had wandered he did not just launch the missiles against the NCR. After the destruction of his tribe, the Twisted Hairs, by Vulpes Incarta, he became a courier under the command of the mighty Caesar. In the event the Bear had to withdraw from the Mojave, which it would, if Ulysses had anything to say about, Hoover Dam would come under Caesar's jurisdiction.

Ulysses would have fulfilled his vows to serve the Legion. The Son of Mars would have his treasure. His Rome. Though a part of the courier, the part that resented the Legion for what it had done to his tribe, knew that it would be to a selfish end to help Caesar obtain the dam. For Ulysses believed that whether or not the dictator won the dam through combat, it would kill him.

This is why he would wait to strike upon the NCR.

To destroy the Shawnson's home as he done to him. The Divide had suffered for the Courier's ignorance. And when the rain of nuclear fire came to the Mojave, it would not only destroy the child's home, but it would take away his nation. The NCR, the so-called democracy that Shawnson believed in so valiantly, would retreat when I-15 was no longer operational. Despite what President Kimball told the populace, he did not wish to help the people of the wastes. When the waters of life stop pumping through the dam, and the lights of New Vegas cease to shine, the Courier will see how his nation abandons him

And much like the Courier created the Divide, so will Ulysses create the Mojave.

From the terminal in his temple, Ulysses the static from an Old World broadcast: "RALPHE… fly far, fly fast!"

A smile spread within the courier's mask as he realized what had happened. Shawnson had arrived in the Divide, and ED-E had been activated.

_Ulysses' encounter with the Marked Men proved to be more difficult as he tracked the weather through the Divide. For the first thing, the pattern of the winds seemed to shift at every each interval, leading him to large undetonated bombs, almost as if Mars himself were toying with Ulysses… attempting to make him give his position away in the form of a miniature nuclear explosion._

_ Every time this event occurred, Ulysses would take cover in the wreckage of the rebar and steel, playing possum. After minutes of silence, the Marked Men would come, attempting to track the courier. It was at this moment that they would be taken by the courier: killed._

_ Looting them provided weaponry and armor, protecting him from the winds, which he put on under his duster. He was careful when removing it, attempting to make sure that the symbol on the back did not tear. The package from Navarro, the one that took his home, bore the same symbol. The flag of America._

The courier watched through ED-E. Shawnson Gallows did in fact stand before him. His face was one of confusion, almost as if he had seen this robot before. ED-E began to beep excitingly, and the Courier, a mere age of twenty-four, asked it, "What was that sound you played? Some kind of memory glitch?"

Ulysses watched the child's face, reading every detail, memorizing every scar. He heard ED-E beep in a confusing tone, and Shawnson, almost as if he was speaking to himself, said, "Yes, I'm sure I heard it. Did something knock your memory modules loose?" The eyebot began to beep evasively. "Okay, if you won't tell me, just say no."

ED-E beeped apologetically, and the Courier stood there for a moment. Ulysses had control over the eyebot. As his mind wandered towards the thought of revenge, he considered taking over manual control and using the laser technology to attack the degenerate. But he remembered his purpose. To show the Courier what had happened. To give him his message. Still, the thought of murder was so tempting…

_Ulysses dug away at the skin of the Marked Men, shamefully consuming it. There was nothing of substance left in this wasteland, and he had not eaten since he came to. Though he told himself he was dying, and they were not human any longer, he felt as though he was condemned for engaging in cannibalism. As if it made him no better than them._

_ His stomach moaned in agony. Seconds later, he regurgitated the flesh onto the carcasses. The sickness made his wound ache. With emotions raging and body dying, he felt something he had never felt before. A desire to quit._

ED-E beeped excitedly, and Ulysses began to play a track to the Courier through the eyebot. "Experiment log 369248/B," it began, "Eyebot Duraframe universal interface override system. This is Dr. Whitley presiding. We've boosted signal gain and enlarged the overflow buffer system. That should ensure one hundred percent connectivity and control. ED-E, whenever you're ready." There was a chirping sound of electronic systems, and the doctor's log continued playing: "Yes! Success! Um, reporting full success on 369248/B. ED-E was able to interface with and override the test panel in under three seconds. Great job, team. Now let's start on the proposal for the full rollout."

The Courier stared at the robot, wondering why he would play such a thing, and then stated, "That's a recording from your development – are you saying you can override electronic security?"

That's exactly what I'm telling you, Shawnson, Ulysses smiled to himself. He hoped that the robot would help the child through the Divide, and provide Ulysses with the perfect opportunity to observe the Courier.

"Only panels with a dish-shaped receiver? The console in the main room had one of those, I think," the Courier spoke aloud. He then continued, "Was that the voice of your creator? What happened to him?"

_The pain was unbearable. From what he could see, the Divide stretched on for miles. With the lack of food, surplus of enemies, and fatal wound, navigating the maze of rubble would be a near impossible feat. He remembered back to his early days in the Twisted Hairs, before it aligned itself with the Bull and became enslaved. He had no such ambition to create a home for himself as he did now. He had already had a home_

_ Vulpes Incarta had taken that from him. In his own thoughts, he prayed to himself, If I ever make it out of this alive, I will never be one of them. Caesar can bend me to the will of his empire, but I will never betray a people._

_ A part of him argued against himself, without purpose you won't._

The purpose is what drove him, and he knew that he couldn't reveal everything to the Courier just yet. The cryptic message, the mysteries regarding why Ulysses had given up the job… that was all that had the Courier here. Without that mystery, Shawnson would return to the Mojave and prepare for the battle at Hoover Dam.

At his command, ED-E stopped communications with the Courier, and frustrated, he walked away from the eyebot to continue through the Silo. Instead, he directed ED-E to unlock commissaries for the Courier. Shawnson obviously understood that this eyebot was here to help. He probably even knew he was being watched, but he made no effort to communicate with the robot any longer.

_Ulysses collapsed onto the ground, prepared to die. He laid there for what seemed like days, as the wind tore away at his face. But from above, he heard the distant beeping of some mechanism. He slowly, agonizingly brought himself to his feet to see an eyebot, destroying Marked Men a quarter-mile away._

_ As it finished, Ulysses was caught in its gaze. The eyebot began to travel over._

A smile.

If not for the pre-war symbol of his duster – that of America – he would be dead. His quest to reawaken the Old World may be gone, but it had certainly attempting to reach out to him. Looking back, he realized that the only reason the eyebots had saved him was because of the flag that also placed itself on the package from Navarro.

Death had come for the courier, much like it had for Courier Six.

Yet it seems that couriers had a certain way of avoiding that fate.

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**Please review if you enjoyed it.**

**Also, in case it was unclear, Ulysses is viewing the Courier - Shawnson - through the eyes of ED-E.**


	3. Chapter 3

_ Ulysses, destroyed beyond mental repair, and still recovering from the physical damage suffered in the Divide, made his way up Fortification Hill. The boat ride over had been a silent one. Despite the typical "business" attitude of the Legion, the soldiers were eager, surprised even, to see the courier still alive. After hearing of what happened in the Divide – all the Legionaries that died there – they had expected him to be dead. Through all their questions, Ulysses kept an aura of silence._

Silence.

That was the way to lure the Courier in. Though he had spoken to him through ED-E initially, the boy had been victim to silence for his trek through the missile silo. The activation had been fairly simple once ED-E had taken over, and the Courier was more than curious to observe the eyebots making repairs on the large rocket there.

_As he entered the camp, he saw something striking. Contrary to the typical greeting of numerous soldiers and slaves hustling through the training areas, it was rather obsolete of people._

_ Ulysses pulled a tent flap aside, not bothering to check with the guards before entering. On the inside, down a row of Praetorians was an old man. He was adjourned in robes and a golden crown of leaves that took away from the fact that he was nearly bald. When one saw him for the first time, it was hard not to notice his impeccably large nose, which was not exemplified in his profile on their currency. This man was Caesar._

_ "Ulysses," he murmured. The courier walked forward and knelt before his lord, only to feel the immediate pain of being kicked in the face. He collapsed to his side, and looked up at Caesar. "You've been gone far too long. Wherever you were, you must've heard by now."_

_ Ulysses, pulling himself from the ground, decided it was time to speak._

With the push of a button, ED-E began to play another recording. The Courier turned around rather quickly, obviously eager for some sort of interaction. "Dr. Grant? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Ah, Whitley," another voice said from the recording, "there you are. Orders from Colonel Autumn – he feels the Eyebot Duraframe project isn't advancing quickly enough. I'm to-"

"You didn't even disengage his damage-avoidance protocols! You're hurting him!"

"Don't be ridiculous, it's just a machine. See here, I've already increased the navigation system's efficiency by 65%."

"Get the hell out of here!"

"Fine, Whitley, it's your lab. At least until I tell the Colonel about this."

The recording ended, and the Courier sat there, digesting what Ulysses had played for him. Shawnson, speaking to the eyebot, said, "It sounds like Dr. Whitley really cared about you."

ED-E beeped sadly, and Shawnson, frustrated, exclaimed, "RALPHIE who? You're still not making sense, ED-E." As the robot beeped evasively, the Courier said, "That's terrible ED-E, but we should get moving."

_"Ulysses, there's a tribe up north. The White Legs. I wish for you to incorporate them into my Legion," Caesar told the courier._

_ Ulysses was partially in shock. He was never more than a man to send messages, to traverse the wastes that no other would go. And even then – even if he was required more – why would Caesar ask him to do the same horrors that were done to him to others? Converting. Incorporating. All fancy words for the destruction of a people._

_ Caesar explained further, "Near them, there is a settlement called New Canaan. 'Bunch of religious savages that worship some cloud in the sky called Jehovah. Regardless of their insignificance, they pose an opportunity of growth to the Bear."_

The two made their way up the circular stairs. Ulysses took this moment to size up his foe. The boy was not wearing power armor and held no energy weapons, but instead an NCR Service Rifle, a Weathered 10mm Pistol, and wore standard combat armor

In what seemed like an instant, a missile came bombarding through the room. The Courier dove behind cover, and quickly checked to make sure his weapon was in fair condition. As he peeked over the edge of the corner, he quickly equipped his 10mm and fired one-handed into the vacant section of the room. A large metal clink sounded, and the boy knew immediately were the foe was.

He rose from behind cover and quickly ducked back down to avoid the laser fire of a robot guarding a 200 year old military base. Immediately after the lasers ceased, Shawnson swung his rifle over the top of his cover and fired three shots into the head of the enemy. Pieces of scrap metal flew back to the corner of the room, and the Courier emerged to go collect spare parts and ammunition from the machine, despite the fact that he carried no energy weapons.

Impressive.

_"The NCR has a supply line to New Canaan and the Mormons settled there. I need that supply line cut off, achieved through the destruction of the city. This is the White Leg's test. Train them to fight in our ways and have them sacrifice themselves to uniformity. Only then can they join my Empire."_

_ Ulysses bowed once more, and reluctantly said, "Yes, Caesar."_

_ "Oh, and Ulysses, one more thing. You know of Malphius Legate?"_

_ "I assume you mean what happened to him?" Ulysses asked._

_ Caesar chuckled, and said, "Why yes. Despite his punishment, there have been rumors throughout the camp, and throughout the rest of the Empire of his survival. His reincarnation of what has been come to be known as the Burned Man. They say that he has returned to his people. Should he be at New Canaan, he will not survive. Understood?"_

_ Ulysses closed his eyes, already thinking about another face he would have to remember. Another pain the Legion would bring him, and then said, "Understood."_

A blast went off outside his temple.

Ulysses quickly grabbed a Pip-Boy he had obtained many years back, and switched his viewing settings on ED-E to stream to it. Grabbing his rifle and combat knife, he looked outside below. A mass army of tunnelers and Marked Men had gathered below his peak, engaging in a shoot-out with each other.

The courier groaned, realizing that the Courier had no hope of reaching him alone. Despite creating this land, he knew not of its secrets and the paths that Ulysses used to travel across it. Even worse, he wasn't prepared for its enemies. If Shawnson Gallows was to reach him here, he would need help.

Starting with enemies.

Taking aim through his scope, he lined up his crosshairs with the head of a Tunneler and took the shot. Pieces of flesh exploded in nearly every direction. Almost instantly, the Marked Men took notice, and those that did not continue to attack the immediate threat turned to face Ulysses.

A hail of bullets came soaring upward towards the courier, though many without the range to reach him. Those that did missed, due to the poor aim and weapon care of the ghoulish hell hounds. The courier took aim, and fired at the threat, killing one instantaneously.

After every shot, he would check the live stream playing through the Pip-Boy. The Courier was in a doorway, close to the end of the silo. The turrets were working to his advantage it seemed, Ulysses noted. He must have hacked them. Through the door, a stream of lasers bombarded sentient robots, despite their efforts to stop Shawnson and ED-E from continuing.

Ulysses looked back into his scope to fire upon another Marked Man, sending him flying against another. The other quickly attempted to swipe the remains off of him, only to be mauled by a Tunneler, taking advantage of the distraction.

Ulysses laughed. As the Marked Men turned to fire at him, the Tunnelers had taken care of what had to be done. Already a challenge to kill with attention on them, they were almost unstoppable when half of the Marked Men forces were not paying them any attention whatsoever. Within minutes, the creatures were dancing in piles of blood and gore.

The courier looked back at his Pip-Boy, and watched as Shawnson approached the end of the silo. Painted on the wall was: "You Can Go Home Now, Courier". Something Ulysses had put there himself.

Turning up the music on the Pip-Boy, the tribal took another shot against a Tunneler.

_…and ain't that a kick… in the heeeaaaaaaaad!_

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**Thanks for reading. Review if you enjoyed.**


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